Year after year, ABC’s morning talk show Live with Kelly and Mark keeps hosting a wide range of jaw-dropping record attempts.
Live and Guinness World Records have nurtured a thriving partnership, and this year was no different: to celebrate the brand new Guinness World Records 2024 hitting shelves, the syndicated show hosted an array of incredible record-breaking events in front of a live audience for a whole week.
The acclaimed Record Breaker Week spanned from Monday 18 September to Friday 22 September and was hosted by sparkly Live duo Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos.
With the participation of Guinness World Records 2024 Hall of Fame superstars Harlem Globetrotters, from knuckles push ups to colourful science experiments, the array of successful records attempted during the show was nothing short of entertaining.
Let’s recap together the highs of the week!
Most balls caught on a Velcro suit in one minute (team of two)
Kicking off the record-breaking fest, the consolidated record-breaking pair of David Rush and Jonathan Hannon challenged gravity with the record for the most balls caught on a Velcro suit in one minute (team of two).
Standing at three metres from each other, Jonathan threw balls at David, who was wrapped in a bright yellow suit, while an eager audience encouraged them.
“That was the weirdest thing I’ve ever seen,” Kelly commented at the end of the hilarious attempt.
But the true challenge had barely started!
Entering a heated head-to-head against the pro-record breakers, Mark and former Live co-host Ryan Seacrest had their own go at the record, with Mark throwing the balls and Ryan trying to catch as many of them as possible with his Velcro suit.
Heartbreakingly, Mark and Ryan were disqualified for throwing multiple balls at once.
Instead, as declared by the on-set official Guinness World Records adjudicator Michael Empric, the pair formed by David and Jonathan currently followed the guidelines and achieved a whopping total of 107, successfully beating the minimum of 62 and breaking the record.
“Coming back to the Live with Kelly and Mark was lots of fun, and this was a FUN record!” said David after the attempt.
David and Jonathan re-confirmed their status as seasoned record breakers. The duo can already boast a plethora of record titles, such as the most apples thrown and caught in mouth in one minute (a total of 49) and most marshmallows caught by mouth in one minute (58).
Most pull ups in one minute with a 20 lb pack (female)
The following day, mother-of-two Inga Simning tested her strength with the most pull ups in one minute with a 20 lb pack (female).
Smashing the record, the athlete achieved the incredible total of 21 pull ups on the live show.
Inga has been lifting weights since she was thirteen, but the pandemic changed her routine drastically: she stopped going to the gym two or three times a week and, instead, moved her training time to the morning.
“I discovered that I have seven mornings a week to work out! And then I also have evenings if I want,” she says.
That quickly went up to training ten times a week. - Inga
The change of pace allowed her to truly get into fitness.
She discovered the record while she was deep in marathon training, and spent three weeks incorporating a daily one-minute set of pull ups during her usual training.
Under the careful eyes of adjudicator Michael Empric, the audience in the studio cheered and clapped for the athlete as Inga powered through the challenge.
After a stressful sixty seconds, she achieved the record as the crowd cheered her on.
The athlete also successfully attempted and achieved the most knuckle push ups in one minute (female) with a whopping total of 76 push ups.
The fitness feat was filmed for Live’s social channels, and kept the audience holding their breaths for a whole minute.
In 2022, the Pittsford-based fitness virtuosa also smashed the record for most pull ups in one minute (female), racking up 39 reps.
Most basketball alley-oop slam dunks in one minute
On Thursday, two members of the Harlem Globetrotters - Julian "Zeus" McClurkin and Lucius "Too Tall" Winston – had a ball breaking basketball records.
Under the excited eyes of Kelly and Mark, aided by teammates Cherelle "Torch" George and Jason "Buckets" Barrera, the two attempted to smash the record for the most basketball alley-oop slam dunks in one minute.
Lucius "Too Tall" is already the proud record holder of two official Guinness World Records titles.
In December 2021 he achieved the most basketball layups in one minute (21), as well as the most basketball three pointers in one minute by a pair (male) with teammate Rock “Wham” Middleton.
Zeus is also a fully-fledged record holder: in November 2016, already broke the record for most basketball slam dunks in one minute (individual) with 16 overall slam dunks.
In 2021, he went on to try the same challenge blindfolded. On that occasion, he achieved the incredible number of nine slam dunks and smashed the record for most blindfolded basketball slam dunks in one minute.
"You can do special things when people believe in you," he said.
After showing Kelly and Mark some cool basketball tricks, it was time to attempt the record.
"An alley-oop is an assist, it's when somebody passes the ball and the other person dunks the ball," Zeus explained.
It's an efficient way to get a bucket! - Zeus
During the gut-wrenching attempt, Zeus and Too Tall proved their seamless coordination.
Moving in perfect sync, they powered through the record ball after ball and - even more incredibly! - they made the challenge look easy.
With a total of 14 alley-oops, the basketball superstars soared above the challenge and added yet another certificate to their ever-growing collection.
The previous record was held by other two members of the world-famous team: Donte “Hammer” Harrison and Corey “Thunder” Law (both USA), who had achieved 13 slam dunks at LakePoint Champions Center in Cartersville, Georgia, USA, on 6 December 2021.
In March 2023, Torch George and Scooter Christensen visited the Guinness World Records HQ in London.
Most underpants pulled on in one minute (team of two)
Team work makes the dream work: on Thursday, beloved producers of the show Jan Schillay and Jim Niebler attempted another record.
This time, they tested their coordination attempting the most underpants pulled on in one minute (team of two).
The record was last attempted on Live by twin brothers Drew and Jonathan Scott in 2019 – although they didn’t manage to take home the coveted certificate on that occasion, four years later Jan and Jim set their minds to breaking the records themselves.
Learning from their predecessors' mistakes, they prepared for the record by closely watching the previous attempts and studying all the dos and don'ts for a flawless record attempt.
After that, with Jan wearing their lucky underpants (“We’ve used these every time we’ve tried the record, and we’ve been successful so far,” she says) and their game faces on, they were ready to dive into the action.
And... their preparation surely paid off!
After a nail-biting race against time, they achieved a total of 22 – three more than the minimum to beat.
This triumph comes right after another Officially Amazing success.
In January 2023, the two producers had already snatched the title for the most jumpers put on in 30 seconds (team of two).
With determination in spades, they smashed the challenge with nine sweaters.
Most elephant's toothpaste fountains activated simultaneously
Closing the week in style, Science Bob turned the Live studio into his personal lab and offered a dramatically colourful show with the most elephant's toothpaste fountains activated simultaneously.
The record was possible thanks to a chain of 244 simultaneous explosions: 44 more than the minimum to beat.
"In all the flasks here we have some hydrogen peroxide, and the beakers above them are a catalyst called sodium iodide," Science Bob explained. "There is also some soap in there, and it's going to create bubbles."
Triggered by a chemical reaction, the sodium expands and produces an excess of foam that dramatically bursts from the flasks.
"If it all goes well, we are going to have some foam coming out of the top of the flasks."
At the count of three, Science Bob, Kelly and Mark simultaneously pulled the strings, activated the chemical reaction and filled the studio with hundreds of rainbow fountains.
In September 2021, Science Bob broke the record for most effervescent tablet rockets launched simultaneously: a total of 5,025 after ten hours of preparation with the aid of the WABC Props Department!
Before that, in June 2018, Science Bob also smashed the record for the largest elephant’s toothpaste fountain.
The record flooded the Live studio (then called Live with Kelly and Ryan and co-hosted by Ryan Seacrest) in a fluffy blue foam.
"It was always on my bucket list to set a world record, and it made perfect sense to use science to accomplish that," Science Bob commented after the attempt.
In the past years, Live with Kelly and Mark has solidified its (Officially Amazing!) place in history through many jaw-dropping Guinness World Records attempts.
The 2024 edition has been equally spectacular, and we can’t wait to see what the future holds!
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